The high school's entire student body, faculty and staff assembled on its fields at 7:30 a.m. to witness an aerial display honoring beloved longtime art teacher, Vincent Nasta.
Mr. Nasta, 47, a pilot who enjoyed performing stunts in air shows, perished in a plane crash during a performance at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome Aug. 17.
His friends and fellow pilots flew five flights over the school where Mr. Nasta was to have begun his 18th year of teaching on Thursday. Each of the planes in the display had a role in Mr. Nasta's flying career, and each of the pilots were close friends of his, according to Riverhead High School principal David Zimbler. Another of Mr. Nasta's close friends, David Jensen, narrated the display over the school's public address system.
First in the sky, partially obscured by the clouds, were two Stearman-World War II primary trainers, which Mr. Nasta flew at air shows. They were followed by a Piper cub, the type of plane used by Mr. Nasta, a licensed flight instructor, to teach his students how fly tail wheel airplanes. Next came a Piper Saratoga, which Mr. Nasta flew for Angel Flights, a volunteer organization of pilots who transport people for medical treatment. The fourth flight was three aerobatic planes, which Mr. Nasta flew in the aerobatic competitions that he loved.
The fifth and final flight provided the most spectacular display. Four Warbirds burst through the clouds, silhouetted by rays of sun that also pierced the cloud cover, and flew low in a military missing man formation over the hushed crowd.
Two of the Warbirds were planes Mr. Nasta flew while skytyping, and they left in their wake long trails of thick white smoke hanging in the sky over Riverhead High School. Another, a green P40 that Mr. Nasta flew in airshows, pulled up and headed west as the formation flew overhead in a ceremonial salute to a fallen pilot.
The field erupted with cheers and applause as the Warbirds roared off over the treetops.
“It is a fitting tribute to a special man, a great way to get the day started, thinking of Vincent Nasta,” said Mr. Zimbler.
Mr. Nasta's widow, Kathleen, who watched the display in the parking lot with some of her husband's students and fellow teachers, said she was touched by the tribute.
“Vinny would have loved it,” she said. See a video of a fly-over in the right sidebar.